Systems and methods for presenting user interaction information

ABSTRACT

Systems, methods, and non-transitory computer-readable media can receive a set of information presentation rules, and receive a user interaction with a social network content post. User interaction information is displayed on a user interface for a current user based on the user interaction and the set of information presentation rules.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/246,799, filed on Aug. 25, 2016 and entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FORPRESENTING USER INTERACTION INFORMATION”, which is incorporated hereinby reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present technology relates to social networking systems. Moreparticularly, the present technology relates to presenting userinteraction information.

BACKGROUND

Today, people often utilize computing devices (or systems) for a widevariety of purposes. Users can use their computing devices, for example,to interact with one another, create content, share content, and viewcontent. In some cases, a user can utilize his or her computing deviceto access a social networking system (or service). The user can provide,post, share, and access various content items, such as status updates,images, videos, articles, and links, via the social networking system.

Users of a social networking system can be provided with a userinterface to interact with content posted by other users on a socialnetworking system, i.e., social network content posts. For example,users can comment on, react to, and/or share social network contentposts posted to the social networking system by other users.Participation in the social networking system by users can be encouragedand promoted by improving tools, features, and interfaces to facilitateinteraction on the social networking system.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments of the present disclosure can include systems,methods, and non-transitory computer readable media configured toreceive a set of information presentation rules, and receive a userinteraction with a social network content post. User interactioninformation is displayed on a user interface for a current user based onthe user interaction and the set of information presentation rules.

In an embodiment, a plurality of user interactions to the social networkcontent post is received. Each of the plurality of user interactionscomprises a selection of a reaction icon from a plurality of predefinedreaction icons. A subset of the plurality of predefined reaction iconsis selected for presentation on the user interface.

In an embodiment, the subset of the plurality of predefined reactionicons is displayed on the user interface in order of popularity.

In an embodiment, a plurality of user interactions to a social networkcontent post is received from a set of reacting users. Each of theplurality of user interactions comprises a selection of a reaction iconfrom a plurality of predefined reaction icons. A social sentence isgenerated based on the plurality of user interactions.

In an embodiment, a determination is made that the set of reacting usersdoes not include any connections of the current user on the socialnetworking system. The social sentence is generated based on thedetermination that the set of reacting users does not include anyconnections of the current user on the social networking system.

In an embodiment, the social sentence is indicative of a total number ofusers in the set of reacting users.

In an embodiment, the set of information presentation rules defines amaximum number of connection names capable of being displayed. A set ofconnected users is determined from the set of reacting users. The set ofconnected users comprises a plurality of users, each user in the set ofconnected users being a connection of the current user on a socialnetworking system. A determination is made that the number of users inthe set of connected users is greater than the maximum number ofconnection names capable of being displayed. The set of connected usersis ranked based on user ranking criteria. A subset of the set ofconnected users is selected based on the ranking.

In an embodiment, the set of connected users is ranked based on afriendship coefficient.

In an embodiment, the social sentence identifies the subset of the setof connected users.

In an embodiment, a user interaction is received to the social networkcontent post from the current user. The social sentence is updated toindicate that a user interaction has been received from the currentuser.

It should be appreciated that many other features, applications,embodiments, and/or variations of the disclosed technology will beapparent from the accompanying drawings and from the following detaileddescription. Additional and/or alternative implementations of thestructures, systems, non-transitory computer readable media, and methodsdescribed herein can be employed without departing from the principlesof the disclosed technology.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system including a user interactionpresentation module, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 2A illustrates an example scenario including an example socialnetwork content post user interface, according to an embodiment of thepresent disclosure.

FIG. 2B illustrates an example scenario including an example userinteraction information presentation interface, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2C illustrates an example scenario including an example userinteraction information presentation interface, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2D illustrates an example scenario including an example expandedsocial network content post user interface, according to an embodimentof the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example information content module, according toan embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example scenario including an example userinteraction information presentation interface, according to anembodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example method associated with presenting userinteraction information, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example method associated with presenting userreaction information, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

FIG. 7 illustrates a network diagram of an example system including anexample social networking system that can be utilized in variousscenarios, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of a computer system or computing devicethat can be utilized in various scenarios, according to an embodiment ofthe present disclosure.

The figures depict various embodiments of the disclosed technology forpurposes of illustration only, wherein the figures use like referencenumerals to identify like elements. One skilled in the art will readilyrecognize from the following discussion that alternative embodiments ofthe structures and methods illustrated in the figures can be employedwithout departing from the principles of the disclosed technologydescribed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Presentation of User Interaction Information

Today, people often utilize computing devices (or systems) for a widevariety of purposes. Users can use their computing devices, for example,to interact with one another, create content, share content, and viewcontent. In some cases, a user can utilize his or her computing deviceto access a social networking system (or service). The user can provide,post, share, and access various content items, such as status updates,images, videos, articles, and links, via the social networking system.

Users of a social networking system can be provided with a userinterface to interact with content posted by other users on the socialnetworking system, i.e., social network content posts. For example,users can comment on, react to, and/or share social network contentposts posted to the social networking system by other users.Participation in the social networking system by users can be encouragedand promoted by improving tools, features, and interfaces to facilitateinteraction with content posts on the social networking system.

It continues to be an important interest for a social networking systemto improve the experience of users interacting with content posts on thesocial networking system. Continued user interaction with content postedon the social networking is an important aspect of maintaining continuedinterest in and participation on the social networking system. A socialnetworking system can provide users with an interface to interact withcontent posts on the social networking system. For example, theinterface can provide users with the ability to react to a content post(e.g., to “like” the content post or provide an alternative reaction),comment on a content post, and/or share a content post. Users can alsobe provided with user interaction information indicative of other users'interactions with a particular content post. Knowledge of other users'interactions with a particular content post may encourage a user tointeract with the content post. However, it can be difficult to provideusers with user interaction information that is interesting and relevantto them. It can also be difficult to present user interactioninformation in a way that is appealing, and will encourage users tointeract based on other users' interactions.

An improved approach rooted in computer technology overcomes theforegoing and other disadvantages associated with conventionalapproaches specifically arising in the realm of computer technology.Based on computer technology, the disclosed technology can present userinteraction information for a social network content post based on a setof information presentation rules. In certain embodiments, theinformation presentation rules can include information arrangement rulesfor defining how various elements in an interface should be arranged,and information content rules for determining what user interactioninformation should be presented. In various embodiments, a socialnetwork content post can be presented with associated user interactioninformation. The user interaction information can be presented in a userinteraction information area, or user interaction information bar. Theuser interaction information for a particular social network contentpost can be updated based on user interaction with the social networkcontent post. In certain embodiments, the user interaction informationcan include one or more reaction icons indicative of how one or moreusers have reacted to the associated social network content post. Invarious embodiments, the user interaction information can also include a“social sentence,” which may be a textual representation of users'reactions to the social network content post. The set of informationpresentation rules can define the content and arrangement of thereaction icons and/or the social sentence. These concepts will bedescribed in greater detail below with reference to the figures.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 100 including an example userinteraction presentation module 102 configured to present userinteraction information, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. The user interaction presentation module 102 can beconfigured to apply a set of information presentation rules to presentuser interaction information for a social network content post. The userinteraction information can be presented through a user interfacedisplayed on a computing device associated with a user. The userinterface can be presented by an application provided by a socialnetworking system. In certain embodiments, the information presentationrules can include information arrangement rules for defining how variouselements in an interface should be arranged, and information contentrules for defining what user interaction information should bepresented. In various embodiments, user interaction information caninclude one or more reaction icons indicative of users' interactionswith the social network content post. The set of informationpresentation rules can provide rules specifying the arrangement andcontent of the one or more reaction icons. The user interactioninformation can also include a social sentence providing a textualrepresentation of users' interactions with the social network contentpost. The set of information presentation rules can provide rulesspecifying the arrangement and content of the social sentence.

As shown in the example of FIG. 1, the user interaction presentationmodule 102 can include an information arrangement module 104 and aninformation content module 106. In some instances, the example system100 can include at least one data store 110. The components (e.g.,modules, elements, etc.) shown in this figure and all figures herein areexemplary only, and other implementations may include additional, fewer,integrated, or different components. Some components may not be shown soas not to obscure relevant details.

The information arrangement module 104 can be configured to implement aset of information arrangement rules, which specify how user interactioninformation is arranged, positioned, and/or presented in a userinterface. In certain embodiments, a user interface for a socialnetworking system can present a social network content post. The socialnetwork content post can be presented along with associated userinteraction information, which is indicative of how users haveinteracted with the social network content post. User interactioninformation can be presented in a user interaction information area, oruser interaction information bar. The user interface can also include auser interaction area, which allows a current user to interact with thesocial network content post. The information arrangement module 104 canimplement the set of information arrangement rules to define howinformation is presented in the user interaction information area and/orthe user interaction area. For example, the set of informationarrangement rules can define the alignment and/or positioning ofparticular user interaction information, and the order in which userinteraction information is presented. The information arrangement module104 is discussed in greater detail herein with reference to an exemplaryset of information arrangement rules presented in FIGS. 2A-D.

The information content module 106 can be configured to implement a setof information content rules for determining user interactioninformation to be presented to a user. In certain embodiments, userinteraction information can include one or more reaction icons. Theinformation content module 106 can be configured to select one or morereaction icons to be presented. In certain embodiments, user interactioninformation can include a social sentence providing a textualrepresentation of user reactions to a social network content post. Theinformation content module 106 can be configured to generate the socialsentence based on the set of information content rules. The informationcontent module 106 is described in greater detail herein.

The user interaction presentation module 102 can be implemented, in partor in whole, as software, hardware, or any combination thereof. Ingeneral, a module as discussed herein can be associated with software,hardware, or any combination thereof. In some implementations, one ormore functions, tasks, and/or operations of modules can be carried outor performed by software routines, software processes, hardware, and/orany combination thereof. In some cases, the user interactionpresentation module 102 can be implemented, in part or in whole, assoftware running on one or more computing devices or systems, such as ona server computing system or a user (or client) computing system. Forexample, the user interaction presentation module 102 or at least aportion thereof can be implemented as or within an application (e.g.,app), a program, or an applet, etc., running on a user computing deviceor a client computing system, such as the user device 710 of FIG. 7. Inanother example, the user interaction presentation module 102 or atleast a portion thereof can be implemented using one or more computingdevices or systems that include one or more servers, such as networkservers or cloud servers. In some instances, the user interactionpresentation module 102 can, in part or in whole, be implemented withinor configured to operate in conjunction with a social networking system(or service), such as the social networking system 730 of FIG. 7. Itshould be understood that there can be many variations or otherpossibilities.

The user interaction presentation module 102 can be configured tocommunicate and/or operate with the at least one data store 110, asshown in the example system 100. The data store 110 can be configured tostore and maintain various types of data. In some implementations, thedata store 110 can store information associated with the socialnetworking system (e.g., the social networking system 730 of FIG. 7).The information associated with the social networking system can includedata about users, user identifiers, social connections, socialinteractions, profile information, demographic information, locations,geo-fenced areas, maps, places, events, pages, groups, posts,communications, content, feeds, account settings, privacy settings, asocial graph, and various other types of data. In some embodiments, thedata store 110 can store information that is utilized by the userinteraction presentation module 102. For example, the data store 110 canstore user interaction information, one or more information presentationrules, one or more information arrangement rules, one or moreinformation content rules, and the like. It is contemplated that therecan be many variations or other possibilities.

FIGS. 2A-D present example user interface elements that may be generatedas a result of implementing a set of information presentation rules,according to embodiments of the present disclosure. The informationpresentation rules can include a set of information arrangement rules.In certain embodiments, certain individual elements within a userinterface may be positioned and/or arranged based on implementation ofthe set of information arrangement rules by the information arrangementmodule 104 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 2A presents an example scenario 200 displayed in a user interface,including a social network content post 202. The social network contentpost 202 is presented with an associated user interaction informationarea 204 and a user interaction area 206. The user interactioninformation area 204 presents user interaction information, while theuser interaction area 206 allows a user to interact with the socialnetwork content post 202. In one embodiment, the user interactioninformation area 204 and the user interaction area 206 can be selectedheights with various icons therein being selected heights with a borderhaving selected dimensions. In some embodiments, the selected heightsand selected dimensions can be measured in pixels. For example, in oneimplementation, the user interaction information area 204 isapproximately 34 pixels in height, with the reaction icons 212 beingapproximately 16 pixels in height and a 9 pixel border above and belowthe reaction icons 212. In one embodiment, the user interaction area 206is approximately 32 pixels in height, with various user interactionicons (e.g., Like, Comment, Share) being approximately 14 pixels inheight with a 9 pixel border above and below the user interaction icons.

The user interaction information area 204 can include user reactioninformation 208. The reaction information 208 can include one or morereaction icons 212, and a social sentence 214. The one or more reactionicons 212 and the social sentence 214 are indicative of users' reactionsto the social network content post 202. For example, in the examplescenario 200, the reaction icons 212 include a heart icon (i.e., a“love” reaction icon), a laughing face icon (i.e., a “haha” reactionicon), and a thumbs up icon (i.e., a “like” reaction icon), indicatingthat one or more users have selected these reactions in response to thesocial network content post 202. In the example scenario 200, the socialsentence 214 also states that “James & 3 others” have reacted to thesocial network content post 202. In certain embodiments, where aplurality of reaction icons have been selected by users, as is the casein example scenario 200, one or more information arrangement rules mayspecify an order of presentation for the plurality of reaction icons.For example, reaction icons may be presented in order of popularity. Inthe example shown in FIG. 2A, the love reaction icon is presented first,from left to right, because it is the most popular reaction (i.e., themost users have selected this reaction in response to the social networkcontent post 202). The haha reaction icon is the second most popular,and the like reaction icon is the third most popular reaction.

In addition to the reaction information 208, the user interactioninformation area 204 can also present other interaction information 210.This other interaction information 210 may include information such asthe number of comments to the social network content post 202, thenumber of times the social network content post 202 has been shared,and/or the number of times the social network content post 202 has beenviewed. Information arrangement rules can specify the positioning of thereaction information 208 and other interaction information 210 withinthe user interaction information area 204. In certain embodiments, thereaction information 208 and/or the other interaction information canappear in various selected positions depending on available interactioninformation. For example, FIG. 2B shows an example scenario 230displayed in a user interface in which two users have commented on asocial network content post, but no users have provide a reaction to thesocial network content post (e.g., by selecting a reaction icon from aset of reaction icons). In this circumstance, the set of informationarrangement rules may dictate that the other interaction information 210(i.e., the fact that there are two comments), is left-aligned within theuser interaction information are 204.

FIG. 2C shows an example scenario 250 displayed in a user interface inwhich two users have commented on the social network content post, butfour users have also reacted to the social network content post. In thiscircumstance, the set of information arrangement rules may dictate thatthe reaction information 208 is left-aligned, and other interactioninformation 210 is right-aligned, as shown in the example scenario 250.In certain embodiments, if reaction information is available, reactioninformation is left-aligned. Other interaction information is onlyleft-aligned when there is no reaction information available. Otherwise,the other interaction information is right-aligned.

In certain embodiments, information arrangement rules may differ basedon a state of a social network content post. For example, a socialnetwork content post may be presented to a user (e.g., in the user'ssocial networking system news feed) in an expanded state or in acollapsed state. FIG. 2D shows an example scenario 270 displayed in auser interface in which a social network content post 202 is presentedin an expanded state. FIG. 2D can be contrasted to FIG. 2A, in which thesocial network content post 202 is presented in a collapsed state. Inthe expanded state of FIG. 2D, one or more comments are presented belowthe social network content post 202, along with a comment bar 272 for acurrent user to enter a comment. In the collapsed state of FIG. 2A,comments are not presented below the social network content post 202. Itcan be seen that there is more room in the expanded state of FIG. 2D forpresenting user interaction information compared to the collapsed stateof FIG. 2A. As such, it may not be necessary to include both reactioninformation 208 and other interaction information 210 in a single userinteraction information area 204, since there is more space to presentsuch information. Therefore, information arrangement rules may differfor a social network content post based on whether the social networkcontent post is presented in a collapsed state or an expanded state. Forexample, in a collapsed state where reaction information and otherinteraction information are presented in a single line, as was the casein FIGS. 2A-2C, information arrangement rules may include one or morerules that specify that other interaction information is left-alignedwhen there is no reaction information available, and is right-alignedwhen there is reaction information available (as discussed above withreference to FIGS. 2B-C). However, in an expanded state, in whichreaction information and other interaction information are presented inseparate lines or areas, these rules may not be necessary.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example information content module 302 configuredto determine user interaction information to be presented to a user,according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. In someembodiments, the information content module 106 of FIG. 1 can beimplemented as the example information content module 302. As shown inFIG. 3, the information content module 302 can include a reaction iconcontent module 304 and a social sentence content module 306.

The reaction icon content module 304 can be configured to determine oneor more reaction icons to be presented to a user. In certainembodiments, users may be given the ability to react to a social networkcontent post by selecting a reaction icon from a set of predefinedreaction icons. For example, users can select a “like” icon indicatingthat they like the social network content post, or a “love” iconindicating that they love the social network content post, or a “haha”icon indicating that they find the social network content post funny, ora “sad” icon indicating that they find the social network content postsad, or an “angry” icon indicating that the social network content postmakes them angry. As users react to the social network content post byselecting various reaction icons, one or more reaction icons can bepresented in a user reaction information area (such as the user reactioninformation area 204 of FIG. 2A) to indicate to a current user how otherusers have reacted to a social network content post.

In certain embodiments, one or more reaction icons are selected forpresentation based on a set of information content rules. For example,if users have reacted to a social network content post in only one way,e.g., everyone who has reacted to the social network content post hasselected the “like” reaction, then it may be as straightforward aspresenting that one reaction icon in the user interaction informationarea. However, if users have reacted in multiple ways, a subset of theselected reaction icons may be selected for presentation. For example,the set of information content rules may specify a maximum number ofreaction icons that can be presented. If users have selected more thanthe maximum number of reaction icons that can be presented, then asubset of the selected reaction icons must be selected for presentation.In certain embodiments, the subset of the selected reaction icons may beselected based on a ranking and ranking threshold for the set ofselected reaction icons. For example, the set of information contentrules may dictate that only three reaction icons can be presented. Ifusers have reacted to a social network content post in five differentways, the set of information content rules may dictate that the reactionicons are ranked based on popularity (i.e., the number of users who haveselected each reaction icon), and the three most popular reactions areselected for presentation in the user interaction information area. Iffewer than three reaction icons have been chosen by users, e.g., allusers have selected with the “like” icon or the “love” icon, then allselected reaction icons can be presented.

The social sentence content module 306 can be configured to generate asocial sentence to be presented to a user. The social sentence can be atextual representation of user reactions to a social network contentpost. The social sentence can be indicative of the number of people whohave reacted to the social network content post and/or who has reactedto the social network content post. The set of information content rulescan dictate how the social sentence is constructed based on variousscenarios. For example, the social sentence may be constructeddifferently depending on whether or not a current user is the firstperson to react to a social network content post, and/or how many of thecurrent user's connections on a social networking system have reacted tothe social network content post. For example, consider a scenario inwhich a current user, User A, is viewing a social network content post.If none of User A's connections on the social networking system havereacted to the social network content post, the social sentence maysimply be a number indicative of how many users have reacted to thesocial network content post (e.g., “232” if 232 users have reacted).

However, if User A has one or more connections on a social networkingsystem who have reacted to the social network content post, the socialnetwork content post may identify one or more of those connections whohave reacted. In various embodiments, the set of information contentrules may define a maximum number of names that can be presented in thesocial sentence. If User A has greater than zero connections who havereacted to the social network content post, but below the maximum numberspecified by the set of information content rules, then each of User A'sconnections' names may be listed along with an indication of the totalnumber of users who have reacted. For example, if the maximum number ofconnections' names that can be presented is two, and User A has only oneconnection that has reacted to the social network content post, then thesocial sentence can read, “James Doe & 34 others,” indicating that UserA's social network connection, James Doe, has reacted to the socialnetwork content post, along with 34 other users.

If User A has greater than the maximum number of connections that hasreacted to a social network content post, e.g., more than twoconnections who have reacted to the social network content post, then asubset of User A's connections that have reacted can be selected. Forexample, if the maximum number of connections' names that can bepresented in the social sentence is two names, and User A has twentyconnections that have reacted to the social network content post, thentwo connections of the twenty connections can be selected for inclusionin the social sentence. In certain embodiments, a subset of connectionsthat have reacted can be selected based on a ranking and a rankingthreshold. For example, User A's connections can be ranked based on afriendship coefficient (or friendship coefficient score) indicative ofthe affinity between two users, and the top connections can be selectedfor inclusion in the social sentence. For example, the top two of UserA's connections who have reacted to a social network content post can beselected based on their friendship coefficient with respect to User A.The social sentence may read “John Doe, James Doe, and 20 others,” whereJohn Doe and James Doe are the two connections who have reacted to thesocial network content post who have the highest friendship coefficientrelative to User A.

In certain embodiments, if a user has a long name (e.g., such that thesocial sentence cannot satisfy a maximum character threshold if the fullname is included), the user's last name can be abbreviated, or droppedaltogether. If the first name alone still cannot satisfy a lengththreshold or maximum character threshold, then the next user in theranking can be selected. For example, if all of the current user'sconnections who have reacted to a social network content post are rankedbased on friendship coefficient, the next highest connection based onfriendship coefficient ranking can be selected. This process cancontinue until the required number of names are found. However, if thereare no names that satisfy the maximum character threshold, then thesocial sentence can revert back to a default social sentence. Forexample, the default social sentence can be a numerical count of thetotal number of reactors (e.g., “38” if there are thirty-eight users whohave reacted to the social network content post.)

In certain embodiments, if a current user (e.g., User A) reacts to thesocial network content post, the social sentence may be updated toindicate the current user's reaction. For example, if a social sentencecurrently reads “James Doe and 34 others,” indicating that User A'sconnection James Doe and 34 other users have currently reacted, and thenUser A reacts to the social network content post, the social sentencecan be updated to read “You, James Doe, and 34 others.” In certainembodiments, if the current user is the first user to react, then thesocial sentence may include the current user's name, rather than “You.”For example, if current user User A is the first user to react to asocial network content post, the social sentence could read “User A.”

As was described above with respect to the set of informationarrangement rules, the set of information content rules may vary basedon a state of a social network content post. As discussed above, asocial network content post may have a collapsed state and an expandedstate. A collapsed state may have less room for reaction information inthe user interaction information area. The collapsed state may havedifferent information content rules than a social network content postin an expanded state. For example, the collapsed state may only allowfor inclusion of one name in the social sentence, rather than two.

In certain embodiments, if the current user reacts to a social networkcontent post, identification of the current user (e.g., “You”) may countas a name to be included in the social sentence. For example, if twonames can be included in the social sentence, and the current user hasnot reacted to the social network content post, then the names of twoconnections who have reacted may be presented (e.g., the social sentencemay read “James Doe, John Doe, and 33 others.”). However, once thecurrent user reacts to the social network content post, one of the twoconnections' names may be replaced by identification of the current user(e.g., the social sentence may now read “You, James Doe, and 34others.”).

FIG. 4 presents an example scenario 400 displayed in a user interface inwhich information content rules can be implemented to determine userinteraction information to be presented to a user. The example scenario400 includes a user interaction information area 402. The userinteraction information area 402 includes one or more reaction icons 404(in this case, there are three reaction icons), and a social sentence406. The user interaction information area 402 and the informationcontained therein are indicative of user interaction with an associatedsocial network content post (not shown). In the example shown, thereaction icons 404 indicate that users have reacted to the socialnetwork content post in at least three different ways (love, haha, andlike), and the social sentence 406 indicates that 35 users have reactedto the social network content post, including a user named James Doe. Asdiscussed above, the content in the user interaction information area402, including the content of the reaction icons 404 and the socialsentence 406, can be determined based on a set of information contentrules.

As discussed above, in certain embodiments, the reaction icons 404 mayhave been selected based on various reaction icon ranking criteria. Forexample, the 35 users who have reacted to the social network contentpost may have selected five or six different reaction icons, but the topthree most popular reaction icons are displayed in the user interactioninformation area 402. The reaction icons 404 may be displayed in orderof popularity, such that the “love” icon was selected by the most users,the “haha” icon was selected by the second most users, and the “like”icon was selected by the third most users.

In certain embodiments, hovering over a particular reaction icon willpresent a list of users who have selected that reaction icon. Clicking aparticular reaction icon can open up a pop-up window of users who haveselected that reaction icon. Hovering over the social sentence canpresent a list of all users who have reacted to the social networkcontent post, and clicking on the social sentence can present a pop-upwindow listing all users who have reacted to the social network contentpost. In various embodiments, the pop-up window may present tabs, eachtab associated with either a particular reaction icon or representing acollection of all users who have reacted to the social network contentpost. These tabs can allow the current user to select the various tabsto see a list of users who have selected each reaction icon or to see acomplete list of all users who have reacted to the social networkcontent post. In certain embodiments, connections of the current usermay be listed ahead of other users who are not connections of thecurrent user.

As also discussed above, the content of the social sentence may varyand/or be updated based on who has reacted to the social network contentpost and/or how many users have reacted to the social network contentpost. For example, if User A is the current user in example scenario400, the name of user “James Doe” may be displayed because James Doe isa connection of User A on a social networking system. It may be the casethat other connections of User A have reacted to the social networkcontent post. However, the names of the other connections may not bedisplayed due to a maximum name threshold defining the maximum number ofnames that may be displayed in the social sentence 406. A subset ofconnection names can be selected based on one or more informationcontent rules. The information content rules may define ranking criteriafor ranking and selecting a subset of connection names to be displayedin the social sentence 406. For example, James Doe may have beenselected for display in the social sentence 406 based on a friendshipcoefficient ranking in which all of User A's connections who havereacted to the social network content post are ranked based on afriendship coefficient score with respect to User A. It may also be apossibility that James Doe did not have the highest friendshipcoefficient score, but had the highest friendship coefficient scoreamong connections who had a name that satisfied a maximum characterthreshold defined by the information content rules.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example method 500 associated with displaying userinteraction information, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. It should be appreciated that there can be additional,fewer, or alternative steps performed in similar or alternative orders,or in parallel, based on the various features and embodiments discussedherein unless otherwise stated.

At block 502, the example method 500 can receive a set of informationpresentation rules. At block 504, the example method 500 can receive auser interaction to a social network content post. At block 506, theexample method 500 can display user interaction information on a userinterface based on the user interaction and the set of informationpresentation rules. Other suitable techniques that incorporate variousfeatures and embodiments of the present technology are possible.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example method 600 associated with presenting userreaction information, according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure. It should be appreciated that there can be additional,fewer, or alternative steps performed in similar or alternative orders,or in parallel, based on the various features and embodiments discussedherein unless otherwise stated.

At block 602, the example method 600 can receive a set of informationpresentation rules, including a set of information arrangement rules anda set of information content rules. At block 604, the example method 600can receive a plurality of reactions to a social network content post,each of the plurality of reactions associated with a particular reactionicon selected from a predefined plurality of reaction icons. At block606, the example method 600 can, rank the plurality of reaction iconsbased on reaction icon ranking criteria, the reaction icon rankingcriteria defined by the set of information content rules. At block 608,the example method 600 can, select one or more reaction icons forpresentation based on the ranking the plurality of reaction icons. Atblock 610, the example method 600 can determine an order of presentationfor the one or more reaction icons based on the set of informationarrangement rules. At block 612, the example method 600 can generate asocial sentence based on the set of information content rules and theplurality of reactions. Other suitable techniques that incorporatevarious features and embodiments of the present technology are possible.

Social Networking System—Example Implementation

FIG. 7 illustrates a network diagram of an example system 700 that canbe utilized in various scenarios, in accordance with an embodiment ofthe present disclosure. The system 700 includes one or more user devices710, one or more external systems 720, a social networking system (orservice) 730, and a network 750. In an embodiment, the social networkingservice, provider, and/or system discussed in connection with theembodiments described above may be implemented as the social networkingsystem 730. For purposes of illustration, the embodiment of the system700, shown by FIG. 7, includes a single external system 720 and a singleuser device 710. However, in other embodiments, the system 700 mayinclude more user devices 710 and/or more external systems 720. Incertain embodiments, the social networking system 730 is operated by asocial network provider, whereas the external systems 720 are separatefrom the social networking system 730 in that they may be operated bydifferent entities. In various embodiments, however, the socialnetworking system 730 and the external systems 720 operate inconjunction to provide social networking services to users (or members)of the social networking system 730. In this sense, the socialnetworking system 730 provides a platform or backbone, which othersystems, such as external systems 720, may use to provide socialnetworking services and functionalities to users across the Internet.

The user device 710 comprises one or more computing devices (or systems)that can receive input from a user and transmit and receive data via thenetwork 750. In one embodiment, the user device 710 is a conventionalcomputer system executing, for example, a Microsoft Windows compatibleoperating system (OS), Apple OS X, and/or a Linux distribution. Inanother embodiment, the user device 710 can be a computing device or adevice having computer functionality, such as a smart-phone, a tablet, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a laptop computer,a wearable device (e.g., a pair of glasses, a watch, a bracelet, etc.),a camera, an appliance, etc. The user device 710 is configured tocommunicate via the network 750. The user device 710 can execute anapplication, for example, a browser application that allows a user ofthe user device 710 to interact with the social networking system 730.In another embodiment, the user device 710 interacts with the socialnetworking system 730 through an application programming interface (API)provided by the native operating system of the user device 710, such asiOS and ANDROID. The user device 710 is configured to communicate withthe external system 720 and the social networking system 730 via thenetwork 750, which may comprise any combination of local area and/orwide area networks, using wired and/or wireless communication systems.

In one embodiment, the network 750 uses standard communicationstechnologies and protocols. Thus, the network 750 can include linksusing technologies such as Ethernet, 702.11, worldwide interoperabilityfor microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, 4G, CDMA, GSM, LTE, digital subscriberline (DSL), etc. Similarly, the networking protocols used on the network750 can include multiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmissioncontrol protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), User Datagram Protocol(UDP), hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), simple mail transferprotocol (SMTP), file transfer protocol (FTP), and the like. The dataexchanged over the network 750 can be represented using technologiesand/or formats including hypertext markup language (HTML) and extensiblemarkup language (XML). In addition, all or some links can be encryptedusing conventional encryption technologies such as secure sockets layer(SSL), transport layer security (TLS), and Internet Protocol security(IPsec).

In one embodiment, the user device 710 may display content from theexternal system 720 and/or from the social networking system 730 byprocessing a markup language document 714 received from the externalsystem 720 and from the social networking system 730 using a browserapplication 712. The markup language document 714 identifies content andone or more instructions describing formatting or presentation of thecontent. By executing the instructions included in the markup languagedocument 714, the browser application 712 displays the identifiedcontent using the format or presentation described by the markuplanguage document 714. For example, the markup language document 714includes instructions for generating and displaying a web page havingmultiple frames that include text and/or image data retrieved from theexternal system 720 and the social networking system 730. In variousembodiments, the markup language document 714 comprises a data fileincluding extensible markup language (XML) data, extensible hypertextmarkup language (XHTML) data, or other markup language data.Additionally, the markup language document 714 may include JavaScriptObject Notation (JSON) data, JSON with padding (JSONP), and JavaScriptdata to facilitate data-interchange between the external system 720 andthe user device 710. The browser application 712 on the user device 710may use a JavaScript compiler to decode the markup language document714.

The markup language document 714 may also include, or link to,applications or application frameworks such as FLASH™ or Unity™applications, the SilverLight™ application framework, etc.

In one embodiment, the user device 710 also includes one or more cookies716 including data indicating whether a user of the user device 710 islogged into the social networking system 730, which may enablemodification of the data communicated from the social networking system730 to the user device 710.

The external system 720 includes one or more web servers that includeone or more web pages 722 a, 722 b, which are communicated to the userdevice 710 using the network 750. The external system 720 is separatefrom the social networking system 730. For example, the external system720 is associated with a first domain, while the social networkingsystem 730 is associated with a separate social networking domain. Webpages 722 a, 722 b, included in the external system 720, comprise markuplanguage documents 714 identifying content and including instructionsspecifying formatting or presentation of the identified content.

The social networking system 730 includes one or more computing devicesfor a social network, including a plurality of users, and providingusers of the social network with the ability to communicate and interactwith other users of the social network. In some instances, the socialnetwork can be represented by a graph, i.e., a data structure includingedges and nodes. Other data structures can also be used to represent thesocial network, including but not limited to databases, objects,classes, meta elements, files, or any other data structure. The socialnetworking system 730 may be administered, managed, or controlled by anoperator. The operator of the social networking system 730 may be ahuman being, an automated application, or a series of applications formanaging content, regulating policies, and collecting usage metricswithin the social networking system 730. Any type of operator may beused.

Users may join the social networking system 730 and then add connectionsto any number of other users of the social networking system 730 to whomthey desire to be connected. As used herein, the term “friend” refers toany other user of the social networking system 730 to whom a user hasformed a connection, association, or relationship via the socialnetworking system 730. For example, in an embodiment, if users in thesocial networking system 730 are represented as nodes in the socialgraph, the term “friend” can refer to an edge formed between anddirectly connecting two user nodes.

Connections may be added explicitly by a user or may be automaticallycreated by the social networking system 730 based on commoncharacteristics of the users (e.g., users who are alumni of the sameeducational institution). For example, a first user specifically selectsa particular other user to be a friend. Connections in the socialnetworking system 730 are usually in both directions, but need not be,so the terms “user” and “friend” depend on the frame of reference.Connections between users of the social networking system 730 areusually bilateral (“two-way”), or “mutual,” but connections may also beunilateral, or “one-way.” For example, if Bob and Joe are both users ofthe social networking system 730 and connected to each other, Bob andJoe are each other's connections. If, on the other hand, Bob wishes toconnect to Joe to view data communicated to the social networking system730 by Joe, but Joe does not wish to form a mutual connection, aunilateral connection may be established. The connection between usersmay be a direct connection; however, some embodiments of the socialnetworking system 730 allow the connection to be indirect via one ormore levels of connections or degrees of separation.

In addition to establishing and maintaining connections between usersand allowing interactions between users, the social networking system730 provides users with the ability to take actions on various types ofitems supported by the social networking system 730. These items mayinclude groups or networks (i.e., social networks of people, entities,and concepts) to which users of the social networking system 730 maybelong, events or calendar entries in which a user may be interested,computer-based applications that a user may use via the socialnetworking system 730, transactions that allow users to buy or sellitems via services provided by or through the social networking system730, and interactions with advertisements that a user may perform on oroff the social networking system 730. These are just a few examples ofthe items upon which a user may act on the social networking system 730,and many others are possible. A user may interact with anything that iscapable of being represented in the social networking system 730 or inthe external system 720, separate from the social networking system 730,or coupled to the social networking system 730 via the network 750.

The social networking system 730 is also capable of linking a variety ofentities. For example, the social networking system 730 enables users tointeract with each other as well as external systems 720 or otherentities through an API, a web service, or other communication channels.The social networking system 730 generates and maintains the “socialgraph” comprising a plurality of nodes interconnected by a plurality ofedges. Each node in the social graph may represent an entity that canact on another node and/or that can be acted on by another node. Thesocial graph may include various types of nodes. Examples of types ofnodes include users, non-person entities, content items, web pages,groups, activities, messages, concepts, and any other things that can berepresented by an object in the social networking system 730. An edgebetween two nodes in the social graph may represent a particular kind ofconnection, or association, between the two nodes, which may result fromnode relationships or from an action that was performed by one of thenodes on the other node. In some cases, the edges between nodes can beweighted. The weight of an edge can represent an attribute associatedwith the edge, such as a strength of the connection or associationbetween nodes. Different types of edges can be provided with differentweights. For example, an edge created when one user “likes” another usermay be given one weight, while an edge created when a user befriendsanother user may be given a different weight.

As an example, when a first user identifies a second user as a friend,an edge in the social graph is generated connecting a node representingthe first user and a second node representing the second user. Asvarious nodes relate or interact with each other, the social networkingsystem 730 modifies edges connecting the various nodes to reflect therelationships and interactions.

The social networking system 730 also includes user-generated content,which enhances a user's interactions with the social networking system730. User-generated content may include anything a user can add, upload,send, or “post” to the social networking system 730. For example, a usercommunicates posts to the social networking system 730 from a userdevice 710. Posts may include data such as status updates or othertextual data, location information, images such as photos, videos,links, music or other similar data and/or media. Content may also beadded to the social networking system 730 by a third party. Content“items” are represented as objects in the social networking system 730.In this way, users of the social networking system 730 are encouraged tocommunicate with each other by posting text and content items of varioustypes of media through various communication channels. Suchcommunication increases the interaction of users with each other andincreases the frequency with which users interact with the socialnetworking system 730.

The social networking system 730 includes a web server 732, an APIrequest server 734, a user profile store 736, a connection store 738, anaction logger 740, an activity log 742, and an authorization server 744.In an embodiment of the invention, the social networking system 730 mayinclude additional, fewer, or different components for variousapplications. Other components, such as network interfaces, securitymechanisms, load balancers, failover servers, management and networkoperations consoles, and the like are not shown so as to not obscure thedetails of the system.

The user profile store 736 maintains information about user accounts,including biographic, demographic, and other types of descriptiveinformation, such as work experience, educational history, hobbies orpreferences, location, and the like that has been declared by users orinferred by the social networking system 730. This information is storedin the user profile store 736 such that each user is uniquelyidentified. The social networking system 730 also stores data describingone or more connections between different users in the connection store738. The connection information may indicate users who have similar orcommon work experience, group memberships, hobbies, or educationalhistory. Additionally, the social networking system 730 includesuser-defined connections between different users, allowing users tospecify their relationships with other users. For example, user-definedconnections allow users to generate relationships with other users thatparallel the users' real-life relationships, such as friends,co-workers, partners, and so forth. Users may select from predefinedtypes of connections, or define their own connection types as needed.Connections with other nodes in the social networking system 730, suchas non-person entities, buckets, cluster centers, images, interests,pages, external systems, concepts, and the like are also stored in theconnection store 738.

The social networking system 730 maintains data about objects with whicha user may interact. To maintain this data, the user profile store 736and the connection store 738 store instances of the corresponding typeof objects maintained by the social networking system 730. Each objecttype has information fields that are suitable for storing informationappropriate to the type of object. For example, the user profile store736 contains data structures with fields suitable for describing auser's account and information related to a user's account. When a newobject of a particular type is created, the social networking system 730initializes a new data structure of the corresponding type, assigns aunique object identifier to it, and begins to add data to the object asneeded. This can occur, for example, when a user becomes a user of thesocial networking system 730, the social networking system 730 generatesa new instance of a user profile in the user profile store 736, assignsa unique identifier to the user account, and begins to populate thefields of the user account with information provided by the user.

The connection store 738 includes data structures suitable fordescribing a user's connections to other users, connections to externalsystems 720 or connections to other entities. The connection store 738may also associate a connection type with a user's connections, whichmay be used in conjunction with the user's privacy setting to regulateaccess to information about the user. In an embodiment of the invention,the user profile store 736 and the connection store 738 may beimplemented as a federated database.

Data stored in the connection store 738, the user profile store 736, andthe activity log 742 enables the social networking system 730 togenerate the social graph that uses nodes to identify various objectsand edges connecting nodes to identify relationships between differentobjects. For example, if a first user establishes a connection with asecond user in the social networking system 730, user accounts of thefirst user and the second user from the user profile store 736 may actas nodes in the social graph. The connection between the first user andthe second user stored by the connection store 738 is an edge betweenthe nodes associated with the first user and the second user. Continuingthis example, the second user may then send the first user a messagewithin the social networking system 730. The action of sending themessage, which may be stored, is another edge between the two nodes inthe social graph representing the first user and the second user.Additionally, the message itself may be identified and included in thesocial graph as another node connected to the nodes representing thefirst user and the second user.

In another example, a first user may tag a second user in an image thatis maintained by the social networking system 730 (or, alternatively, inan image maintained by another system outside of the social networkingsystem 730). The image may itself be represented as a node in the socialnetworking system 730. This tagging action may create edges between thefirst user and the second user as well as create an edge between each ofthe users and the image, which is also a node in the social graph. Inyet another example, if a user confirms attending an event, the user andthe event are nodes obtained from the user profile store 736, where theattendance of the event is an edge between the nodes that may beretrieved from the activity log 742. By generating and maintaining thesocial graph, the social networking system 730 includes data describingmany different types of objects and the interactions and connectionsamong those objects, providing a rich source of socially relevantinformation.

The web server 732 links the social networking system 730 to one or moreuser devices 710 and/or one or more external systems 720 via the network750. The web server 732 serves web pages, as well as other web-relatedcontent, such as Java, JavaScript, Flash, XML, and so forth. The webserver 732 may include a mail server or other messaging functionalityfor receiving and routing messages between the social networking system730 and one or more user devices 710. The messages can be instantmessages, queued messages (e.g., email), text and SMS messages, or anyother suitable messaging format.

The API request server 734 allows one or more external systems 720 anduser devices 710 to call access information from the social networkingsystem 730 by calling one or more API functions. The API request server734 may also allow external systems 720 to send information to thesocial networking system 730 by calling APIs. The external system 720,in one embodiment, sends an API request to the social networking system730 via the network 750, and the API request server 734 receives the APIrequest. The API request server 734 processes the request by calling anAPI associated with the API request to generate an appropriate response,which the API request server 734 communicates to the external system 720via the network 750. For example, responsive to an API request, the APIrequest server 734 collects data associated with a user, such as theuser's connections that have logged into the external system 720, andcommunicates the collected data to the external system 720. In anotherembodiment, the user device 710 communicates with the social networkingsystem 730 via APIs in the same manner as external systems 720.

The action logger 740 is capable of receiving communications from theweb server 732 about user actions on and/or off the social networkingsystem 730. The action logger 740 populates the activity log 742 withinformation about user actions, enabling the social networking system730 to discover various actions taken by its users within the socialnetworking system 730 and outside of the social networking system 730.Any action that a particular user takes with respect to another node onthe social networking system 730 may be associated with each user'saccount, through information maintained in the activity log 742 or in asimilar database or other data repository. Examples of actions taken bya user within the social networking system 730 that are identified andstored may include, for example, adding a connection to another user,sending a message to another user, reading a message from another user,viewing content associated with another user, attending an event postedby another user, posting an image, attempting to post an image, or otheractions interacting with another user or another object. When a usertakes an action within the social networking system 730, the action isrecorded in the activity log 742. In one embodiment, the socialnetworking system 730 maintains the activity log 742 as a database ofentries. When an action is taken within the social networking system730, an entry for the action is added to the activity log 742. Theactivity log 742 may be referred to as an action log.

Additionally, user actions may be associated with concepts and actionsthat occur within an entity outside of the social networking system 730,such as an external system 720 that is separate from the socialnetworking system 730. For example, the action logger 740 may receivedata describing a user's interaction with an external system 720 fromthe web server 732. In this example, the external system 720 reports auser's interaction according to structured actions and objects in thesocial graph.

Other examples of actions where a user interacts with an external system720 include a user expressing an interest in an external system 720 oranother entity, a user posting a comment to the social networking system730 that discusses an external system 720 or a web page 722 a within theexternal system 720, a user posting to the social networking system 730a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or other identifier associated with anexternal system 720, a user attending an event associated with anexternal system 720, or any other action by a user that is related to anexternal system 720. Thus, the activity log 742 may include actionsdescribing interactions between a user of the social networking system730 and an external system 720 that is separate from the socialnetworking system 730.

The authorization server 744 enforces one or more privacy settings ofthe users of the social networking system 730. A privacy setting of auser determines how particular information associated with a user can beshared. The privacy setting comprises the specification of particularinformation associated with a user and the specification of the entityor entities with whom the information can be shared. Examples ofentities with which information can be shared may include other users,applications, external systems 720, or any entity that can potentiallyaccess the information. The information that can be shared by a usercomprises user account information, such as profile photos, phonenumbers associated with the user, user's connections, actions taken bythe user such as adding a connection, changing user profile information,and the like.

The privacy setting specification may be provided at different levels ofgranularity. For example, the privacy setting may identify specificinformation to be shared with other users; the privacy settingidentifies a work phone number or a specific set of related information,such as, personal information including profile photo, home phonenumber, and status. Alternatively, the privacy setting may apply to allthe information associated with the user. The specification of the setof entities that can access particular information can also be specifiedat various levels of granularity. Various sets of entities with whichinformation can be shared may include, for example, all friends of theuser, all friends of friends, all applications, or all external systems720. One embodiment allows the specification of the set of entities tocomprise an enumeration of entities. For example, the user may provide alist of external systems 720 that are allowed to access certaininformation. Another embodiment allows the specification to comprise aset of entities along with exceptions that are not allowed to access theinformation. For example, a user may allow all external systems 720 toaccess the user's work information, but specify a list of externalsystems 720 that are not allowed to access the work information. Certainembodiments call the list of exceptions that are not allowed to accesscertain information a “block list”. External systems 720 belonging to ablock list specified by a user are blocked from accessing theinformation specified in the privacy setting. Various combinations ofgranularity of specification of information, and granularity ofspecification of entities, with which information is shared arepossible. For example, all personal information may be shared withfriends whereas all work information may be shared with friends offriends.

The authorization server 744 contains logic to determine if certaininformation associated with a user can be accessed by a user's friends,external systems 720, and/or other applications and entities. Theexternal system 720 may need authorization from the authorization server744 to access the user's more private and sensitive information, such asthe user's work phone number. Based on the user's privacy settings, theauthorization server 744 determines if another user, the external system720, an application, or another entity is allowed to access informationassociated with the user, including information about actions taken bythe user.

In some embodiments, the social networking system 730 can include a userinteraction presentation module 746. The user interaction presentationmodule 746 can, for example, be implemented as the user interactionpresentation module 102 of FIG. 1. As discussed previously, it should beappreciated that there can be many variations or other possibilities.For example, in some instances, the user interaction presentation module746 (or at least a portion thereof) can be included or implemented inthe user device 710. Other features of the user interaction presentationmodule 746 are discussed herein in connection with the user interactionpresentation module 102.

Hardware Implementation

The foregoing processes and features can be implemented by a widevariety of machine and computer system architectures and in a widevariety of network and computing environments. FIG. 8 illustrates anexample of a computer system 800 that may be used to implement one ormore of the embodiments described herein in accordance with anembodiment of the invention. The computer system 800 includes sets ofinstructions for causing the computer system 800 to perform theprocesses and features discussed herein. The computer system 800 may beconnected (e.g., networked) to other machines. In a networkeddeployment, the computer system 800 may operate in the capacity of aserver machine or a client machine in a client-server networkenvironment, or as a peer machine in a peer-to-peer (or distributed)network environment. In an embodiment of the invention, the computersystem 800 may be the social networking system 730, the user device 710,and the external system 820, or a component thereof. In an embodiment ofthe invention, the computer system 800 may be one server among many thatconstitutes all or part of the social networking system 730.

The computer system 800 includes a processor 802, a cache 804, and oneor more executable modules and drivers, stored on a computer-readablemedium, directed to the processes and features described herein.Additionally, the computer system 800 includes a high performanceinput/output (I/O) bus 806 and a standard I/O bus 808. A host bridge 810couples processor 802 to high performance I/O bus 806, whereas I/O busbridge 812 couples the two buses 806 and 808 to each other. A systemmemory 814 and one or more network interfaces 816 couple to highperformance I/O bus 806. The computer system 800 may further includevideo memory and a display device coupled to the video memory (notshown). Mass storage 818 and I/O ports 820 couple to the standard I/Obus 808. The computer system 800 may optionally include a keyboard andpointing device, a display device, or other input/output devices (notshown) coupled to the standard I/O bus 808. Collectively, these elementsare intended to represent a broad category of computer hardware systems,including but not limited to computer systems based on thex86-compatible processors manufactured by Intel Corporation of SantaClara, Calif., and the x86-compatible processors manufactured byAdvanced Micro Devices (AMD), Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., as well as anyother suitable processor.

An operating system manages and controls the operation of the computersystem 800, including the input and output of data to and from softwareapplications (not shown). The operating system provides an interfacebetween the software applications being executed on the system and thehardware components of the system. Any suitable operating system may beused, such as the LINUX Operating System, the Apple Macintosh OperatingSystem, available from Apple Computer Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., UNIXoperating systems, Microsoft® Windows® operating systems, BSD operatingsystems, and the like. Other implementations are possible.

The elements of the computer system 800 are described in greater detailbelow. In particular, the network interface 816 provides communicationbetween the computer system 800 and any of a wide range of networks,such as an Ethernet (e.g., IEEE 802.3) network, a backplane, etc. Themass storage 818 provides permanent storage for the data and programminginstructions to perform the above-described processes and featuresimplemented by the respective computing systems identified above,whereas the system memory 814 (e.g., DRAM) provides temporary storagefor the data and programming instructions when executed by the processor802. The I/O ports 820 may be one or more serial and/or parallelcommunication ports that provide communication between additionalperipheral devices, which may be coupled to the computer system 800.

The computer system 800 may include a variety of system architectures,and various components of the computer system 800 may be rearranged. Forexample, the cache 804 may be on-chip with processor 802. Alternatively,the cache 804 and the processor 802 may be packed together as a“processor module”, with processor 802 being referred to as the“processor core”. Furthermore, certain embodiments of the invention mayneither require nor include all of the above components. For example,peripheral devices coupled to the standard I/O bus 808 may couple to thehigh performance I/O bus 806. In addition, in some embodiments, only asingle bus may exist, with the components of the computer system 800being coupled to the single bus. Moreover, the computer system 800 mayinclude additional components, such as additional processors, storagedevices, or memories.

In general, the processes and features described herein may beimplemented as part of an operating system or a specific application,component, program, object, module, or series of instructions referredto as “programs”. For example, one or more programs may be used toexecute specific processes described herein. The programs typicallycomprise one or more instructions in various memory and storage devicesin the computer system 800 that, when read and executed by one or moreprocessors, cause the computer system 800 to perform operations toexecute the processes and features described herein. The processes andfeatures described herein may be implemented in software, firmware,hardware (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit), or anycombination thereof.

In one implementation, the processes and features described herein areimplemented as a series of executable modules run by the computer system800, individually or collectively in a distributed computingenvironment. The foregoing modules may be realized by hardware,executable modules stored on a computer-readable medium (ormachine-readable medium), or a combination of both. For example, themodules may comprise a plurality or series of instructions to beexecuted by a processor in a hardware system, such as the processor 802.Initially, the series of instructions may be stored on a storage device,such as the mass storage 818. However, the series of instructions can bestored on any suitable computer readable storage medium. Furthermore,the series of instructions need not be stored locally, and could bereceived from a remote storage device, such as a server on a network,via the network interface 816. The instructions are copied from thestorage device, such as the mass storage 818, into the system memory 814and then accessed and executed by the processor 802. In variousimplementations, a module or modules can be executed by a processor ormultiple processors in one or multiple locations, such as multipleservers in a parallel processing environment.

Examples of computer-readable media include, but are not limited to,recordable type media such as volatile and non-volatile memory devices;solid state memories; floppy and other removable disks; hard diskdrives; magnetic media; optical disks (e.g., Compact Disk Read-OnlyMemory (CD ROMS), Digital Versatile Disks (DVDs)); other similarnon-transitory (or transitory), tangible (or non-tangible) storagemedium; or any type of medium suitable for storing, encoding, orcarrying a series of instructions for execution by the computer system800 to perform any one or more of the processes and features describedherein.

For purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth inorder to provide a thorough understanding of the description. It will beapparent, however, to one skilled in the art that embodiments of thedisclosure can be practiced without these specific details. In someinstances, modules, structures, processes, features, and devices areshown in block diagram form in order to avoid obscuring the description.In other instances, functional block diagrams and flow diagrams areshown to represent data and logic flows. The components of blockdiagrams and flow diagrams (e.g., modules, blocks, structures, devices,features, etc.) may be variously combined, separated, removed,reordered, and replaced in a manner other than as expressly describedand depicted herein.

Reference in this specification to “one embodiment”, “an embodiment”,“other embodiments”, “one series of embodiments”, “some embodiments”,“various embodiments”, or the like means that a particular feature,design, structure, or characteristic described in connection with theembodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the disclosure. Theappearances of, for example, the phrase “in one embodiment” or “in anembodiment” in various places in the specification are not necessarilyall referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternativeembodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Moreover, whetheror not there is express reference to an “embodiment” or the like,various features are described, which may be variously combined andincluded in some embodiments, but also variously omitted in otherembodiments. Similarly, various features are described that may bepreferences or requirements for some embodiments, but not otherembodiments.

The language used herein has been principally selected for readabilityand instructional purposes, and it may not have been selected todelineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter. It is thereforeintended that the scope of the invention be limited not by this detaileddescription, but rather by any claims that issue on an application basedhereon. Accordingly, the disclosure of the embodiments of the inventionis intended to be illustrative, but not limiting, of the scope of theinvention, which is set forth in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer-implemented method comprising:providing, by a computing system, a first user with a plurality ofpredefined reaction icons for interacting with a content post, eachreaction icon being indicative of a respective reaction to the contentpost; receiving, by the computing system, a first user interaction fromthe first user to the content post, wherein the first user interactionis one user interaction among a plurality of user interactions to thecontent post from a plurality of users; ranking, by the computingsystem, the plurality of predefined reaction icons based on theplurality of user interactions to the content post; determining, by thecomputing system, a subset of the plurality of predefined reaction iconsbased on the ranking the plurality of predefined reaction icons, thesubset having a number of predefined reaction icons that satisfies athreshold number of predefined reaction icons; and providing, by thecomputing system, the first user with user interaction information forthe content post on a user interface, wherein the user interactioninformation comprises at least the subset of the plurality of predefinedreaction icons presented in a particular order based on the ranking theplurality of predefined reaction icons.
 2. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 1, wherein the particular order for presenting thesubset of the plurality of predefined reaction icons is determined basedon how many users of the plurality of users have selected each reactionicon in response to the content post.
 3. The computer-implemented methodof claim 1, further comprising: generating a social sentence based onthe plurality of user interactions, wherein the social sentence is atextual representation of user interaction with the content post and isindicative of how many users have reacted to the content post using theplurality of predefined reaction icons.
 4. The computer-implementedmethod of claim 3, further comprising: updating the social sentence inresponse to receiving the first user interaction from the first user toindicate that the first user has interacted with the content post. 5.The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein a set of users thathave reacted to the content post using the plurality of predefinedreaction icons defines a set of reacting users, and the generating thesocial sentence comprises: determining that the set of reacting usersdoes not include any connections of the first user on a socialnetworking system; and generating a social sentence based on thedetermination that the set of reacting users does not include anyconnections of the first user on the social networking system.
 6. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 5, wherein the generating thesocial sentence based on the determination that the set of reactingusers does not include any connections of the first user on the socialnetworking system comprises: generating a social sentence that isindicative of how many users have reacted to the content post using theplurality of predefined reaction icons without identifying anyindividual user of the set of reacting users.
 7. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein a set of users that havereacted to the content post using the plurality of predefined reactionicons defines a set of reacting users, and the generating the socialsentence comprises: determining that the set of reacting users includesone or more connections of the first user on a social networking system;and generating a social sentence based on the determination that the setof reacting users includes one or more connections of the first user onthe social networking system.
 8. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 7, wherein the generating the social sentence based on thedetermination that the set of reacting users includes one or moreconnections of the first user on the social networking system comprises:generating a social sentence that is indicative of how many users havereacted to the content post using the plurality of predefined reactionicons and that identifies at least some of the one or more connectionsof the first user on the social networking system that are included inthe set of reacting users.
 9. The computer-implemented method of claim8, wherein a set of information presentation rules define a maximumnumber of user names capable of being identified in the social sentence,and the method further comprises: determining a set of connected usersfrom the set of reacting users, the set of connected users comprising aplurality of users, each user in the set of connected users being aconnection of the first user on the social networking system;determining that the number of users in the set of connected users isgreater than the maximum number of user names capable of beingidentified in the social sentence; ranking the set of connected usersbased on user ranking criteria; and selecting a subset of the set ofconnected users for identification in the social sentence based on theranking.
 10. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, wherein theranking the set of connected users comprises ranking the set ofconnected users based on a friendship coefficient indicative of anaffinity between the first user and each user in the set of connectedusers.
 11. A system comprising: at least one processor; and a memorystoring instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor,cause the system to perform a method comprising: providing a first userwith a plurality of predefined reaction icons for interacting with acontent post, each reaction icon being indicative of a respectivereaction to the content post; receiving a first user interaction fromthe first user to the content post, wherein the first user interactionis one user interaction among a plurality of user interactions to thecontent post from a plurality of users; ranking the plurality ofpredefined reaction icons based on the plurality of user interactions tothe content post; determining a subset of the plurality of predefinedreaction icons based on the ranking the plurality of predefined reactionicons, the subset having a number of predefined reaction icons thatsatisfies a threshold number of predefined reaction icons; and providingfirst user with user interaction information for the content post on auser interface, wherein the user interaction information comprises atleast the subset of the plurality of predefined reaction icons presentedin a particular order based on the ranking the plurality of predefinedreaction icons.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the particular orderfor presenting the subset of the plurality of predefined reaction iconsis determined based on how many users of the plurality of users haveselected each reaction icon in response to the content post.
 13. Thesystem of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the system toperform: generating a social sentence based on the plurality of userinteractions, wherein the social sentence is a textual representation ofuser interaction with the content post and is indicative of how manyusers have reacted to the content post using the plurality of predefinedreaction icons.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the instructionsfurther cause the system to perform: updating the social sentence inresponse to receiving the first user interaction from the first user toindicate that the first user has interacted with the content post. 15.The system of claim 13, wherein a set of users that have reacted to thecontent post using the plurality of predefined reaction icons defines aset of reacting users, and the generating the social sentence comprises:determining that the set of reacting users does not include anyconnections of the first user on a social networking system; andgenerating a social sentence based on the determination that the set ofreacting users does not include any connections of the first user on thesocial networking system.
 16. A non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium including instructions that, when executed by at least oneprocessor of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform amethod comprising: providing a first user with a plurality of predefinedreaction icons for interacting with a content post, each reaction iconbeing indicative of a respective reaction to the content post; receivinga first user interaction from the first user to the content post,wherein the first user interaction is one user interaction among aplurality of user interactions to the content post from a plurality ofusers; ranking the plurality of predefined reaction icons based on theplurality of user interactions to the content post; determining a subsetof the plurality of predefined reaction icons based on the ranking theplurality of predefined reaction icons, the subset having a number ofpredefined reaction icons that satisfies a threshold number ofpredefined reaction icons; and providing first user with userinteraction information for the content post on a user interface,wherein the user interaction information comprises at least the subsetof the plurality of predefined reaction icons presented in a particularorder based on the ranking the plurality of predefined reaction icons.17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16,wherein the particular order for presenting the subset of the pluralityof predefined reaction icons is determined based on how many users ofthe plurality of users have selected each reaction icon in response tothe content post.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedium of claim 16, wherein the instructions further cause the computingsystem to perform: generating a social sentence based on the pluralityof user interactions, wherein the social sentence is a textualrepresentation of user interaction with the content post and isindicative of how many users have reacted to the content post using theplurality of predefined reaction icons.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the instructionsfurther cause the computing system to perform: updating the socialsentence in response to receiving the first user interaction from thefirst user to indicate that the first user has interacted with thecontent post.
 20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium ofclaim 18, wherein a set of users that have reacted to the content postusing the plurality of predefined reaction icons defines a set ofreacting users, and the generating the social sentence comprises:determining that the set of reacting users does not include anyconnections of the first user on a social networking system; andgenerating a social sentence based on the determination that the set ofreacting users does not include any connections of the first user on thesocial networking system.